Andrew Weatherall – From Primal Scream to Warp Records and beyond, the Guv’nor of British dance music
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How did Andrew Weatherall first meet the hosts and become involved with the Boy’s Own scene?
Hello and welcome to Taught 90s to me, where we delight in indie music but immerse ourselves in Acid House, set up the boy's own crew and DJ at Schum, kick off the actual 90s by remixing a primal screen ballad, then remix everyone else, from Bjork to St. Etienne, move from upbeat belyric sounds into panel beaters from Prague Techno, create Sabres of Paradise and Bocadu. Juniors moved to Yorkshire to learn dry stone walling, form two Lone Swordsmen, and end the decade by creating Electroclush through a compilation LP. All while sporting tattoos, brothel creepers, and leather trousers. I'm Miranda Sawyer, and this week on Taught 90s, I am delighted to be talking the late, great Andrew Retherall with John O'Burgis and Jim Butler from the amazing.
publication Disco Pogo, who recently published a fantastic tribute to Weatherall that was so brilliant and so popular, it smashed into the Sunday Times top ten bestseller lists, which we will cheer. Ray. Hi John O and Jim. Hello and
Miranda. Thanks for having me. Thank you for having us, yes.
Oh well, look, we've got the we've got the book on display. It is a fabulous tribute. Um before we begin talking about Andrew, who died age fifty six, out of the blue, really, in March twenty twenty, just right before the COVID lockdown, I thought I would ask you both how you met him, how you knew him.
I think I met him through Jockeyslut first, which is a fanzine um that we started in Manchester and funnily enough the Year Boys Own ended. I think we started Jockeys Lut. And um he agreed to be on the cover of the third issue. Joanne Wayne had this great idea about interviewing him uh for his about his tattoos, which was covered in tattoos and uh the tagline Weatherall gets his tats out grace to cover. It kind of it kind of made the magazine really, 'cause we'd had a couple of issues out before that, but He was such a big deal in nineteen ninety three. And for him to take his kit off as well, um, when I was going round, you know, little record shops hawking bags around all over the country, everyone was like, Oh, we'll take that.
That's that's weatherall, but it's also funny.
Yeah. And also interesting, I not many GJs would I mean, not many GJs had that much of a personality and they wouldn't have done that, would they?
No, um, but I think uh I think I remember him at the time saying, Oh, I used to be involved in Boys Own and I understand fanzines and I wanna help you guys you know, on your way. So that would have probably been around the first time And then um he played for Bugged Out, I think two years after that, in nineteen ninety five. So he was a regular at Bugged Out then.
And what about you, Jay?
First time I met him wasn't until it was right it was the I interviewed him for the last issue of what turned out to be the last issue of Jockey Slut in two thousand and four. Yeah. There was a Two Lone Swordsman album coming out. I went uh Jockeyslot offices were opposite his studio in Shoreditch. Uh so I used to see him about all the time. But um I went to interview him for the around his album. Yeah. And uh in between the interview happening and the magazine coming out, we died or death.
So we basically opened Jockey Slot and
finished it.
Is that what you're saying? He is interesting as we'll kind of discover, but because he's very recogni he was very recognizable, I think like his look was slightly intimidating. The first couple of times I met him I was a bit scared because it was during the nineties and he had a kind of rockabilly quiff and he just looked quite Not dark, 'cause actually I I I kinda quit quite instantly discovered that he was really jolly. But he looked a little bit more scary than maybe a regular DJ because of the way that he dressed. Yeah, yeah. And and maybe because of the music that he played actually towards the end of the nineties. Um but when I yeah, when I met him I thought I was I was a bit scared of him 'cause he was so cool, which everybody thought in the nineties.
But he was so kind and nice. I was slightly freaked out by how friendly it was really.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Andrew Weatherall first meet the hosts and become involved with the Boy’s Own scene?
0:05–8:46
2
What role did Andrew’s early fanzine work and the Boy’s Own crew play in shaping the UK acid‑house movement?
8:46–16:52
3
How did Weatherall’s first breakthrough remix for the Happy Mondays launch his career as a remix legend?
16:52–25:00
4
What was the story behind the creation of the Sabres of Paradise band and its influence on early‑90s techno?
25:00–32:34
5
Why did the Sabres of Paradise choose to sign with Warp Records despite lucrative offers elsewhere?
32:34–39:28
6
How did the Nine O’Clock Drop compilation capture the transition from indie‑dance to electro‑clash?
39:28–47:13
7
What personal quirks and philosophies made Andrew Weatherall a beloved yet enigmatic figure in the scene?
47:13–54:39
8
How is Andrew Weatherall’s legacy remembered today and why does he still inspire new generations of DJs?
54:39–1:02:45
Speakers
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